So, your using a DP, eh?

What is there to say about doing a project with a Director of Photography?

Well, from my experience, you have to let go of your own ambitions and allow the DP to do his/her job. You have to trust that they can comprehend your requests for a shot. Of course, sometimes you may have to very in depth with your description but often times, just giving a general guideline for what you want to achieve is suffice.

The DP is responsible for capturing whatever it is the director feels is the "look" of the film. It could be film noir, tranquility, chaos, etc... the DP should know what functions on the camera to tinker with, where to start from, and how to finish the request.

One thing that is important is getting lots and lots of coverage shots. From my experiences, having more than you need is INFINITELY more important than not having enough shots. When you have plenty of coverage, you are able to remove the bad shots and include only the captivating and visually compelling shots to your piece.

Working with a DP is a little tricky in that most of us want the camera in our own hands at all times. But, it is very beneficial to the director if that person can focus solely on the overall production and not just the camera work.

I would like to just list some of my favorite DPs:
1. Roger Deakins
2. Wally Pfister
3. Conrad Hall
4. Michael Chapman
5. Phil Parmet

The Hypsys- Cosmik Prince Music Video

Check the music video I made.

It is for a great local band who is about to make it big!

Debut video for The Hypsys performing Cosmik Prince.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jmKnsWY3pI

Visualizaton, eh, Pre-Visualization that is...

So, ya wanna know what I know huh? Well, I know lots of things, like... how to tie my shoes, how to throw a baseball, strike a match... I CAN DO IT ALL... oh but wait, you wanna know about pre-visualization and all that jazz.

Well, when planning a shoot you have to lay down some guidelines before you can actually get anything done. First, you need to establish a location for your shoot. Second, you need to have an understanding of the assignment at hand how to successfully capture what it is your trying to achieve. The next part of planning is establishing a story for your shoot... that is asking- "what are we doing here?" To answer that you need to know all the different aspects of the shoot and who all is involved.

When trying to establish "what to shoot" you need to choose shots that are visually compelling and enhance your vision. To do this, you need to know where and what time of day the shoot is happening, whether or not it is interior or exterior, and how long it will take to set-up a shot. All of these things are very important when establishing what to shoot.

You should be able to envision in your mind what the shot you want should look like on camera. Knowing what type of shots work together can help create a more cohesive and successful final product. When first getting started on a shoot, you have to establish all elements of storytelling to allow viewers to comprehend your story [technically, you don't have to follow the rules if it makes more sense VISUALLY not to].

When using lights, you need to know how the lights operate before you can understand the effect they will have on set. You need to establish beforehand what types of lights [wattage, style, etc.], where the lights are positioned [key, fill, back, etc.], and whether or not you need some sort of filter [screens, gels, reflectors, etc.] BEFORE attempting to shoot.

So, I know this post is a little more vanilla than usual but that I tried to tackle the task at hand as best I could. Hope you enjoyed my rant on pre-viualization. Come again.

Peace and Love to all of the worlds creatures. God bless us, everyone.